The servant leader is servant first. It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve first.’ The Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership defines servant leadership as “a philosophy and set of practices that enriches the lives of individuals, builds better organizations and ultimately creates a more just and caring world.” A servant leader focuses on the growth and well-being of employees and other stakeholders in their organization. Servant leaders seek to help the people they serve grow as individuals.

Robert K. Greenleaf first promulgated the philosophy of Servant leadership in an essay called “The Servant as Leader,” which was first published in 1970. Greenleaf indicated that servant leaders in organizations provide support to their employees, allowing them to learn and grow through inclusive leadership, which employs their expertise and strategies to the fore.

Traditional leadership focuses on things like strategy, goals, financial performance, and customer satisfaction, operational excellence, safety, business development among others.

Servant leadership is a philosophy where a leader is a servant first. Servant leaders aspire to serve their team and the organization first ahead of personal interest and objectives. It is a selfless leadership style where a leader possesses a natural feeling to serve for the greater good.

Wikipedia describes servant leadership as a “leadership philosophy in which the goal of the leader is to serve. This is different from traditional leadership where the leader's focus is the success of their company or organization. A servant leader shares power, puts the needs of the employees first and helps people develop and perform as highly as possible.

Be a servant leader and inspire your direct reports to be more, do more and give more. See you at the summit of servant leaders and have a fantastic week.

Change is a part of life. To be a great, authentic, inspiring, engaging leader, you must change.

As leaders, we can’t always predict with 100% what changes lie ahead, but we can increase our readiness, the capability of our organizations to deal with an uncertain future. How do we do that? We will need to develop a thriving mindset, one that factors in purpose, attitude, connections (relationships), and energy.

PACEsetters’s global study of over 2,000 leaders revealed that CEOs are very concerned with the ability to adapt to a rapidly changing world and figuring out how to lead organizations ill prepared to effectively deal with those changes. The study found that more than 75% of employees within organizations had experienced major changes through mergers and acquisitions, restructuring, downsizing, and outsourcing of jobs and others.

You have heard it said that change is the only constant. That change is difficult. That People don’t like change, be the change you want to see in the world, that the measure of intelligence is the ability to change, that everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing themselves. You have also heard it said that change before you must, that the greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude, change is inevitable. That growth is optional, to improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often, I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination, other words of wisdom from change says, if you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude, The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new, since we cannot change reality, let us change the eyes which see reality, Change is the law of life, and those who look only to the past and present are certain to miss the future. These are all great words of wisdom to help us frame, shape, refine our thinking about change.

My call to action (CTA) is that you decide right now to start making the changes you need to be the best version of yourself. I am very passionate about the subject of change. Why, because I know that in change lies the gem and nuggets for achievement, success, accomplishment and business and success. Your achievement and progress will always come dressed in CHANGE clothes. Have a fantastic week and see you at the summit of world changers.

The word change is to alter, modify, transform, amend, convert, or adjust. Change is as old as human civilization. We change a business model to respond to market demands, we alter our perspective and worldview for better and greater insight, we modify our thinking, leadership behavior, approach and style to changing situations and circumstances, we amend our organization and business systems and processes for service excellence and improvement, performance and productivity, we adjust our way of working to respond to business challenges and customer needs to enhance the customer experience, we transform and renovate our organizational culture to increase performance, employee experience, to be recognized as an employer of choice, we convert our learning and development programs to be cost effective, shape and modify leadership and employee behavior, equip and empower the leadership bench. All that I have spoken about is change. Change is a great asset, and we should embrace it and use change instead of it using us.

Change is beneficial and a great asset to forward thinking and all those hungry to change the trajectory of their lives, business, or organization. When we fully understand and appreciate the value of change, we begin to explore and exploit change to our advantage. Take a deeper look at your leadership approach and style, does it need a makeover through change, review your business processes sand systems, can you improve it through change, look at your company results, can you increase improve the outcomes, review your relationships, can you make a change so that you can do better and progress faster, how are doing with your health and safety programs in your organization, what can you change to improve your safety record and enhance employee experience through your health and wellness programs. We have a lot to benefit from change and trust that you can begin to look at change differently.

The Unstoppable Leader

Are you ready to use your authentic leadership skill and behavior to reach your full potential, and become an unstoppable leader? During turbulent times, our leadership approach and style faces the biggest litmus test. True leadership is earned not given, and you earn it by gaining trust from the people you lead. Behavior, not title, determines your authority. Vince Lombardi has a famous saying: “Winners never quit, and quitters never win.” Leadership Challenge is about mobilizing people to create extraordinary results, and uniting people to turn challenges into successes.

Today’s employees expect more from their leaders. They may have once accepted you as their boss; however, they now want a leader they can emulate and learn from. A leader who is invested in their continued growth, development, and success. An unstoppable leader can help employees, direct reports or team achieve and harness their potential through their own experience and leadership journey. Getting the most from your team requires being an open, authentic, respective, inclusive, and transparent leader showing them how they can reach the same level of success and even more.

As a conscious, unstoppable leader, tough times aren’t only a test, they’re also an opportunity. "Let go of who you think you should be and embrace who you are." - Brene Brown

Have a fantastic week and see you at the summit of unstoppable leaders

Nelson Mandela said, “Do not judge me by my success, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.”

The American Psychological Association defines resilience as “the process and outcome of successfully adapting to difficult or challenging life experiences, especially through mental, emotional, and behavioral flexibility and adjustment to external and internal demands.” It can also be defined as bounce back from change, setbacks, or disruption. Resilience is our ability to cope with difficult situations and to adapt to life's changes and crises. Resilience is the ability to adapt well in the face of threat, adversity, or significant stress. Resilience allows us to bounce back after hardship or disruptive change and adversity. It is our ability to cope with and recover from setbacks. To foster change resilience, we need to create a space where it is safe to voice opinions, share ideas and make mistakes.

Resilience is the ability to bounce back when things don’t go as planned. Learn to be resilient during times of adversity, disruption, and chaos. In this podcast I talk about the resilience advantage. When you learn to be resilient, you position yourself for advancement and progress. Have a fantastic week and see you at the summit of the champions.

The title of being a professional therefore is not in the certificates, degrees, awards, diplomas we collect but rather in how we behave. I have heard some employees refer to their bosses as a true professional and others referring to their supervisors, managers, leaders as not professional. I refer to my personal doctor as a true professional. From the very minute I enter his practice to when I leave, the experience makes me conclude that he is a true professional worth talking about. The way he talks to me, the depth of his knowledge about medicine, the way he carries himself, the choice of words, the way he explains what may be happening in my body all speaks to his ability as a true professional. I contrast my current doctor to the former one and can say that though he qualified as a doctor and knows his subject, I left his office feeling that I need another doctor. I believe you know what I am talking about because you have experienced different medical doctors. We can say the same about teachers or any other profession. Professionalism speaks to the standards of behavior and attitude of a person in each profession. Professionalism is necessary for your long-term success and business.

Will you say you are a true professional. If I were to interview your direct reports, team members or employees can they all unequivocally say that you are a true professional. I was facilitating a workshop and asked the leaders the leader they admire the most in their organization. I gave them a piece of paper to write the name of this person on and give it back to me. The name Kevin came up. All the leaders except 2 mentioned another name. I asked why Kevin? They said Kevin is a true leader and professional. He leads from the front, has open door policy, truly cares, talks to you with respect, inspires his team, clearly articulates his expectations, handles conflict constructively, treats everybody with respect, and works with the team to achieve results. Now this is where it gets interesting. I met another group of leaders the following day and asked the same question and the same name Kevin came up with similar descriptions of Kevin. This is what I believe and have noted over the years, true professionalism is in the person and not in the title, position, diploma, or certificates. So, who is a true professional? I am glad you asked, and I am very eager to tell you.

Being a professional in your chosen field means much more than wearing a coat and tie or possessing a college degree and a noted title. Professionalism has to do with how you conduct yourself during your business affairs. True professionals possess several important characteristics that can apply to virtually any type of business. Professionalism is the way you conduct yourself at work to represent both yourself and your company in a positive way.

In this podcast, I unpack what a true professional is and to give you the opportunity to introspect and answer the question ARE YOU A TRUE PROFESSIONAL? Have a fantastic week.

Years ago, I was working with a major client to develop their leadership pipeline. During the seminar, one of the attendees decided to drop out from the program and his reasoning was that he is more comfortable being an individual contributor rather than getting on the leadership journey. At the time, it didn’t make sense to me but now I know that leadership is not for everyone and it’s okay if you are not ready and prepared to take on leadership responsibilities. I believe the leadership journey gives you the opportunity to learn and grow, mature, make a significant contribution and stretch your abilities.

Leadership is a heavy responsibility and a fulfilling one at the same time. To be a great and respected leader is not for the faint hearted. The leadership journey is filled with challenges and it’s also an amazing opportunity to make a difference in our homes, organizations, business communities and our World. Leading with passion and authenticity can be rewarding. Great leadership is about integrity, honesty, passion, vision, taking risks, fearlessness, compassion, courage, authenticity, collaboration, self-awareness, selflessness, purposefulness, humility, intuition, and wisdom.

When we help leaders renovate their inward state, what’s happening inside them that influences their outside results we will be enhancing the leadership practice. Having been in the change leadership and management space for many years, I can confidently say that the main reason why change initiatives, projects, or programs are not achieving the outcomes and results and why the changes are not sustainable is because the leaders go back to doing things the way they have always done it. When there is no authentic or real change from the inside, leaders revert to the old ways of doing things. How do we change that? By working on the inward condition of the leader comprising of belief systems, thought processes, worldview, self-concept, self-identity, and socialization. You can never be any different from the way you see yourself.

When we look at exceptional and outstanding leadership, it’s about character, courage, and wisdom. It’s important that when we talk about developing leaders, we ensure that we elevate the consciousness of these leaders to lead through complexity, uncertainty, volatility, disruption, and ambiguity.

Enjoy and learn the nuggets presented in this podcast and continue the journey of becoming a great leader that others want to follow and work with voluntarily. Secondly, be the leader you will be proud of working with. Have a fantastic week and see you at the summit of great leaders.

Any change or transformation of significance will create people issues. New leaders will be asked to step up, jobs will be changed, new skills and capabilities must be developed, and people will be uncertain and will have concerns. Dealing with these issues on a reactive rather than on a proactive basis will impact the outcomes and success of the change.

Successful change does not happen by developing flamboyant change plans, engaging change resources, bringing in consultants, using tools and templates, commit financial and human resources to fulfilling the plan, and communicating the change. All these are good but not enough to achieve successful change and transformation. We should remember that people always wish for change because they know that it’s the constant thing in this world, and they will always have this deep, inner desire to improve things for their betterment and progress.

Are we oblivious to the significant waste of human capital and financial resources that come with failure of change and transformation? It’s amazing how disruption, pandemic, chaos, instability, and challenges can cause us to introspect, review, revise, our way of doing things. As soon as we saw that the pandemic was coming to an end, we went back to “Business as Usual” When will we learn and grow? When will we shift our paradigms regarding the human side of change? Every successful change that I have been part of succeeded because we took the human side of change seriously.

The statement “our employees are our most important asset” has become a cliché rather than a true demonstration of what some leaders truly believe. Employees know for certain if they are being regarded as the most important assets. When the time comes for a change to be implemented, employees are sent an email about the change and expected to get on-board and help implement the change. This is not the right way to treat people, especially the people that are your most valuable asset. By proactively engaging and supporting people in times of change, we demonstrate in action that we value them.

Are you restless with your current state? Are you feeling stuck? Are you resting on the achievement of yesterday? Do you feel you have more in you and yet you seem to be stagnant. The key to addressing these questions you have been struggling with is to navigate forward and onward without allowing yourself to make excuses for your current situation or state. Navigating forward with purpose, determination and consistency will get you out of your current situation.

The word to navigate is to steer, traverse, direct, or pilot. In a world filled with challenges and opportunities, the temptation to stay put, rest, or do nothing and wait for things to change when you should be the one to change can be very strong. It takes courage, resiliency, determination, persistence, and perseverance to keep navigating forward in the direction of your leadership journey, taking your company forward, writing that book or whatever project you may be working on.

I was watching television the other day when a comedian made a comment about how they make people laugh and happy and then get back to their hotel feeling lonely and lost after the event. Some have committed suicide not knowing how to continue with life. Navigating forward is even more urgent these days because of all we went through the past few years and what others are going through.

As a leader, you need to learn to navigate forward amidst the challenges, as a business you need to move forward despite the various obstacles, as a family you need to keep moving forward because its only in navigating forward where you will breakthrough and achieve your goals. There are times when knowing the path to follow may not be clear. But you must keep navigating in the hope that you will get to the other side.

In this podcast I share a few nuggets on what to do to effectively navigate forward. The solution you are looking for is right ahead of you. Have a fantastic week and keep navigating forward.

Powerful forces are changing our world. Their impact is touching all countries, sectors, companies, and, increasingly, workers and the environment. They are also mutating in some unexpected ways and combining to create even greater impact than we expected.

The word disruption is a disturbance, commotion, interruption, distraction, interference, or disorder. These words all have a negative connotation; however, disruption can be very good for you and me. It is human nature to want to settle, have stability, control, and go with the flow. However, anytime our lives are disrupted, our businesses are shaken, our thoughts are disrupted with new information and new perspectives, we begin to rise to the challenge and do amazing things with the disruption.

We live in an era of disruption in which powerful global forces are changing how we live and work. Global disruptive trends offer considerable new opportunities to companies, sectors, countries, and individuals that embrace disruption successfully. On the other hand, the number of those who cannot keep up with these changing times or events has grown significantly.

Disruption opens the way for us to think differently. It allows us to use our imagination to redefine the industries we work in and the world we live in. As a result, society benefits from innovations that improve our efficiency and the ease of our daily lives. Disruptions can be a catalyst that can help solve major issues.

In this episode, I unpack the role of disruption and its benefits. When we change our views and perceptions regarding disruption, we begin to take advantage of disruption and use it rather than allowing it to use us. Have a fantastic week and see you at the summit of disruptors.